Selby miners' leaders today welcomed Government moves to bring in retired doctors to help speed up compensation claims for crippled pitmen.

Energy Minister Peter Hain warned that a continued shortage of chest consultants in Yorkshire was hampering the claims process.

He appealed for doctors - including those in retirement - to work for the scheme to help clear the backlog.

Mr Hain promised competitive pay and the opportunity for doctors to work part-time.

About 140,000 serving miners and ex-pitmen, including more than 500 from the Selby pit complex, have submitted compensation claims for lung diseases pneumoconiosis, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

But many have been forced to wait for months for a chest expert to assess their illness, with some of them dying before they were paid compensation.

Ministers admitted last year it could take five years to test all the claimants. There has been some improvement recently with about 1,000 miners a week now being tested nationally - double the figure a year ago. Mr Hain warned: "My concern now is the lack of respiratory consultants working on the scheme.

"Just 40 per cent of the British pool of respiratory consultants work for us and we need more."

He said £30 million had been paid out so far to Yorkshire miners with chest diseases, and predicted they would receive further £60 million by the autumn.

He also pledged a further £60 million to Yorkshire miners suffering from Vibration White Finger, an illness caused by using hand-held pneumatic tools.

Steve Kemp, National Union of Mineworkers' secretary at Stillingfleet Mine, said today he welcomed the move to bring in more doctors, but said it should have been done some time ago.

He said: "We have constantly asked for the compensation process to be speeded up to improve claimants' quality of life.

"Some miners as young as 40 have contracted pneumoconiosis, and the rise in this trend is quite alarming."

Ken Rowley, NUM secretary at Wistow Mine, said: "There are serving mineworkers as well as retired pitmen among the Selby claimants, but the present process is still desperately slow."

Updated: 15:24 Monday, March 26, 2001